Pink Elephants
by Night Rain Illusion
Summary: Light Comashipping. Paul is sick and Ash is only too willing to help him out.


Yes I know, lame summary is lame. This new fic idea came to me while I was sick in bed with the flu sometime ago. Suddenly imagined Paul sick...and Ash taking care of him with hilarious results...something involving pink elephants...and then this happened. It actually turned out pretty long. But it's kind of pure crack, because let's face it, when I'm just getting over the flu, anything I write ends up as crack. Sorry about that. Hope you guys like it anyway. Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon, Comashipping would be canon by now.

**Pink Elephants**

"Paul!"

Paul winced, recognizing the voice immediately. Not that it was hard to mistake it for anyone else; because seriously, who would be dumb enough to shout his name as loud as he can across the Pokemon Center when he had a splitting headache?

Well...the idiot didn't know he had a headache, but that wasn't the point.

Either way, he was starting to regret walking into the Pokemon Center to ask directions for the next town over. It had to be his own horrible luck that he ended up in the same town as that idiot, Ash, that claimed they were rivals. And right now, Paul really wasn't in the mood to be challenged to a battle that he knew he was going to win anyway. (Where was the challenge in it when he won all the time?)

So he started walking away fast, pretending that he hadn't heard his name being called, (which, he'd have to be pretty deaf to not have heard Ash's dulcet tones) when he felt someone grab him by the arm, stopping him from leaving.

"Hey Paul, I thought it was you! What do you say that we have a battle?"

Speak of the devil.

"Sorry, not in the mood right now." Paul said, wrenching his arm out of Ash's grip as he stepped out of the Pokemon Center. He really wasn't, now that he thought about it. For battling or much of anything at the moment. In fact, he didn't really feel too well-

"Wait a second...Paul!"

He heard footsteps following after him, it seemed Ash had told his friends he was going after him. Paul hurried his own pace, as if hoping to lose him in the crowd (was it his imagination or was he not really going as fast as he thought he was?) but Ash quickly caught up to him.

"Hey come on, I've been training a lot and I think-"

_Just keep walking, keep walking..._

"-and it will only take a few minutes, really..."

_Can't that idiot take a hint?_

"I mean, I know I haven't been winning a lot lately-"

_No, apparently he can't._

"I said no."

"But-"

"I said-" but whatever it was Paul was about to say was cut off by a coughing spasm that suddenly shook his whole frame. He heard Ash move next to him as if trying to get a better look at him.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine to me."

Paul ignored him and attempted to start walking away again. (No, he was not staggering in the slightest, he refused to believe that-)

"Paul-!"

"I said I'm-" But he was once again interrupted with more coughing as he was forced to pause and lean against a street lamp nearby until he was sure it was under control.

"See? You're not fine."

Paul nearly jumped; he hadn't even noticed that Ash was in front of him now.

"In fact, your face is kind of flushed..." Ash was saying, and he suddenly felt the back of Ash's hand against his forehead. Hoping to God that his face had not turned even redder, (wait, why would it?) he quickly shook it off, but Ash had not noticed.

"Man, you're burning up. We should get you back to the Pokemon Center so that you can rest."

"I don't-"

Ash suddenly grabbed him by the arm, practically set on dragging him (well, Paul was more like leaning on him rather than being dragged) to the Pokemon Center. "Yes, you do, and that's final."

Paul rolled his eyes, then regretted doing so because it somehow made the headache worse. "If you insist, but I'm not going to the Pokemon Center. I've already got a room at the local hotel." (Because A. he already paid for that room, and B. if he was going to deal with Ash, he'd rather not have to deal with his annoying friends as well)

Ash raised an eyebrow. "You do realize that you can stay at the Pokemon Center for free, right?"

"...Is that _really_ the point right now?"

"...No, I suppose not."

They were met with little incident on the way there (other than a rather painful throbbing that suddenly seemed to spawn in his eye) at the front desk, except for the rather annoying giggling by the girl at the front desk that was strangely amused to see them together, despite the nasty glare Paul shot her and the "It's not like _that_!" (much to Ash's bewilderment as he had not been listening too well while Paul had been signing in at the front desk) before taking the key from her.

Finally, they reached Paul's room, which was a moderate sized room that was furnished like any other room. "There, I'm here. Now will you leave?" Paul asked, dropping his bag in the corner.

"No way, I'm staying here until I'm sure you're alright."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Ash gave a rather derisive snort. "Yeah, sure, you walked into that stop sign on purpose."

Paul blinked. "When did I walk into a stop sign?"

"Thanks for proving my point. How do you not remember hitting that sign?"

"..."

"It was on our way here. You said you could walk on your own without my help and ended up walking straight into a stop sign, which convinced me otherwise."

Oh so _that_ explained the throbbing pain in his eye...

"Well, at least the sign served its purpose...hahaha get it? It was a stop sign and it stopped you from...OK, it wasn't that funny." Ash stopped as he noticed the glare that Paul was shooting at him. Instead, Ash just pushed him toward the bed.

"So just, ah, lay down and I'll go find some medicine!" Ash said before racing out, slamming the door way too loudly behind him. Paul sighed before pulling the covers back. _Well, at least he's making himself useful..._

When Ash came back, he was holding a pill bottle. "The girl at the front desk was nice enough to give me some Tylenol...although, for some reason, she was giggling when she did and was saying something about you possibly being hungover, whatever that means..."

Paul couldn't help but stare. Ash really was simple-minded..._but he's actually not that bad-_

Just as soon as he had taken the pills, he heard Ash reading off the bottle, "New Tylenol GX to cure colds, flu, and coughs. Only side effect appears to be drowsiness...and possible minor hallucinations...huh..."

"Alright, now will you-" Paul started to say, but was then interrupted by Ash's overly helpful tone of "Wait one second and I'll go see if they have any soup here" before once again running out and slamming the door behind him way too loudly.

"Idiot." Paul muttered before lying down and rolling over to face the opposite wall. _He's so annoying...this is aggravating, letting him see me like this..._

_...I suppose he's being helpful...but why? Just because we're rivals?_

He supposed he had dozed off for about five minutes or so when the familiar, albeit slightly shrill for some reason, voice seemed to have returned, and was saying something about having found some soup and for him to sit up so that he could eat it.

Paul rolled over slightly, noticing for the first time since seeing Ash that his Pikachu wasn't with him. _He must of left it at the Pokemon Center..._

But just as he had thought this, his Pikachu suddenly appeared at the foot of the bed with a rather blank expression. He glanced over at Ash, who was still chattering away about something and apparently didn't notice the Pikachu.

...Even when it suddenly turned pink.

Paul had to stare now. _OK, why is there a pink Pikachu at the foot of my bed?_

And then a second pink Pikachu suddenly appeared next to the first. And then a third.

"So anyway, I was thinking that maybe two-"

Paul wasn't even listening to what Ash was saying; he was too distracted by the three Pikachus that were starting to look like elephants...

_Ugh, maybe I am sicker than I thought I was..._

He then recalled something Ash had said earlier about the medication.

_"...side effects...possible minor hallucinations..."_

Oh, he was going to kick Ash's ass when this was over.

"So here's your soup!" Ash smiled, shoving the bowl into his hands and forcing Paul to temporarily take his mind off the technicolor pachyderms that were moving around the room.

Paul couldn't help but stare at the soup though. It seemed that Ash had trouble figuring out what kind of soup to give him, chicken noodle or tomato, so he had tried to combine the two flavors _together_. There were now noodles and chicken swimming in the tomato broth along with something else he couldn't quite make out. It seemed Ash had gotten even more creative than he had originally thought.

"I made it myself!" Ash said rather proudly.

If it hadn't made his headache worse, Paul would of rolled his eyes at that.

_Yeah, I sort of figured that for myself..._

"So come on, try it!"

"I'd rather not."

Ash frowned. "But I went to all the trouble to make soup for you..."

"I don't recall asking for any..."

"But it will make you feel better..."

Paul sighed, as the pointless argument was only making his headache worse. _Well, I'm sure he's not dumb enough to accidentally poison me..._

Paul took a spoonful, making a slight face at it before eating it, expecting the worse.

"Well?" Ash asked, hovering over him expectantly. The pink elephants at the edge of his vision were also hovering around, waiting for an answer.

"...It's...alright..."

"Really!?"

_No, actually it makes me want to dump the bowl over your head,_ Paul thought mentally, but that stupid grin kept him from saying otherwise. _If it keeps him happy..._

As soon as Ash had turned away, he dumped the contents of the soup into the potted plant next to him. The pink elephants were staring at him with a "We saw that" expression and he could swear one of them was doing a "shame on you" with its hands at him. When Ash turned back around, he seemed happy to see the empty bowl.

"Wow, you must have really liked it! I should make more sometime..."

Ash must have been really oblivious, having missed the look of utter disbelief, especially when Ash glanced at the potted plant and said, "Huh, the plant seems to be sick too. I wonder if that soup would help the plant...Paul, why are you face-palming?"

"...Headache."

"...I'm bothering you, aren't I?"

"Gee, you think?"

Oops, he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Ash frowned. "Well sorry for caring. I'll leave then if that's what you want."

Paul would have liked nothing more than that, if it wasn't for the pink elephants suddenly leering at him unpleasantly holding pitchforks and cackling "You'll be all alone with us..." at him.

_No way in hell he is leaving me alone with those elephants..._

As ridiculous as that sounded, he found himself grabbing him by the arm. "No, stay, you're not really bothering me. It was...the fever talking." _God I sound stupid right now..._ he thought, feeling his face reddening slightly.

Ash looked amused. "How do I know that's not the fever talking?"

"You don't."

Ash looked confused. "Wait, what?"

_Exactly..._

"Alright, I'll call my friends and let them know I'm staying here for the night." Ash said, smiling a little as he walked off to make the phone call from the phone in the hallway. The pink elephants looked seemingly disappointed and Paul couldn't help but smirk right back at them, thinking something along the lines of, "Haha, I outsmarted you stupid elephants" which, afterward, made him think that was possibly the dumbest thing he had ever thought or done. Luckily there was no one that would ever know this...

Paul rolled over to face the opposite wall away from the door. The pink elephants moved to be in his line of vision.

"Why are you so mean to him?" one of the elephants asked.

"He's an idiot."

"That's not a good excuse to be mean to someone. I mean, Bubbles here is an idiot, but we're not mean to him." the elephant gestured to the one next to it, who glared at it with an indignant "Hey!"

"Look, I am not having this conversation with a bunch of imaginary pink elephants that are in my head." Paul muttered, wanting nothing more than to sleep now.

"But you don't really hate him though, do you?" it asked.

Paul sighed. "Look, I don't like him because he can be annoying sometimes, but I guess he's alright. Happy? Now leave me alone already." he replied before pulling the covers over his head.

_I don't like him...I don't care how "helpful" he is or how "nice" he is, I still don't like him..._

Paul wasn't sure when it was that he had fallen asleep, or how long it was, but when he opened his eyes next, it was a little darker outside and he had no idea where Ash was, which strangely made him a little nervous. _I thought he said he was staying here...where did he go..._

However, he was unhappy to see the same pink elephants from before that greeted him with a "yo" at seeing him awake. _I'm going to check that medication next time for how long these side effects last..._

Paul was suddenly aware of something that was wrapped around his torso and the sound of soft breathing two inches away from his face. Twisting his head slightly, he realized that it was Ash, apparently having climbed in to sleep and was now hugging him while asleep. He had half a mind to push him off the bed when one of the elephants spoke up.

"You were shivering really badly and he couldn't find any more blankets, so he decided to provide his own body heat."

Paul frowned as he laid back, also realizing that somehow he had been using Ash's chest as a pillow without noticing it. Judging from the sound of his heartbeat, he was having a peaceful sleep. Idiot's going to get sick that way, sleeping that close to me...

But, strangely, it was kind of...nice. (He certainly felt warm) He could feel the blush coming back as he closed his eyes. _...I guess this isn't so bad...This is fine until morning..._

"Aww, I knew it! He likes him!"

"Oh shut up already..."

"Huh? Paul? Who are you talking to?" Ash asked, half asleep.

"No one, idiot."

"Oh, OK..." Ash muttered obliviously.

...

...

[Well, Paul later started to regret not pushing Ash out of the bed when he overheard him telling his friends that he had no trouble having a bed to sleep in since he had simply "Slept with Paul" the next day, but that's not really a good way to end a perfect mood setting right now.]


End file.
